Better late than never, I guess, but I’m going to try and make this short.
Obviously May has begun in the best way possible —a bank holiday weekend!— which has been great for spending time with family, but not so much for writing this blog post or my newsletter.
Talking of my newsletter, subscribers to The Archer Express got some interesting and, hopefully, highly anticipated news in April. We’ll tell you more about it in the coming month or two but, if you’d like to be in the know and one of the first to hear all the gossip, then you need to sign up!
I managed to complete the beta project I was working through, and A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas. Both were completely different genres and writing styles, but they were equally entertaining.
I can’t say much about the first yet, but the second ripped my heart out, stomped on it a few times, jabbed it with a silver dagger and left it on a mountain top as it winnowed away, laughing manically. Nesta was never a favourite character, and still isn’t. I loved the introduction of Gwyn. And Cassian? Like a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat, I’m not sure where he came from, but I liked what I saw!
Through April I was working towards a Camp NaNoWriMo Editing goal of 10,000 words. With some miracle I managed to hit it, and continue on for a final editing total of over 20,000 words. I say “some miracle” as I had to contend with school holidays, Easter, family time, and breaking my toe. All I will advise is, don’t pick a fight with a door. A few hours after sliding into it, it was quite obvious that the door was perfectly fine but my entire foot had swollen twice its normal size and had turned a lovely shade of purple.
For May, I have already begun reading House of Earth and Blood, by Sarah J. Maas. I have so many of her books in my to-be-read-mountain that I thought it best I make a start on them. At the moment I am slightly ahead of my Goodreads goal to hit twelve books for the year (Don’t judge, I’m slow!), but the last few have rivalled War and Peace in terms of length, so I may pick something shorter after that.
As for writing, after the success of Camp NaNo, I’m excited, motivated and eager to finish editing Sorceress of Flame so it can go for another round of beta reading. I’m desperate to get this to you by the end of the year, so editing is definitely my focus yet again.
As for everything else, I’ve got some things I need to take care of at home and, now the weather is improving, I will have to spend a few hours here and there getting the garden in order. It did feel nice to clear off the outdoor seating and read in the sun for an hour last week, so perhaps more of that is in order.
Anyway, I must dash. The child needs to go to bed, and I have an installment of The Archer Express to pen. I have a feeling we might be lifting the lid on what we got up to in the Netherlands.
Take care, Jodie xxx
P.S. Don’t forget to keep up with my antics over on Instagram, and keep an eye out for my next Author Q&A.